Dial indicator



A. E. H. BARIL] DIAL INDICATOR Filed Dec. 8, 1 921 Elm HE HTTURNEY.

OF CHTCQHLGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNGB, 'lEO EDWARID VJ. YVALLACE,

01? C" ECAGD, L'LLINQIS.

DIAL I ll'IDIGATOR.

Application filed December 8, 1921. Serial lilo. 520,935.

To all whom it may] concern:

it known that T, rinrrrun E. H. BARILI, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago. in the county of look and tl'tate of Illinois have invented new and useful inn its in Ural indicators, of which iln following is a specification.

dis n ai'ile in menu ctnrina and machine and tool building estahlishments Where modern methods prevail. Before the ad- 'vr-ntoi dial indicating such estab lishn'icnts had to rely upon vernier gauges. which. as one versed in the art will appreciate. are slew of operation, diliicult to set (lOllCfill /l euougrh to obtain fine read ions. and da tons to rely upon, because suit-h roadie. i indirectly obtained and therefore dependent upon the reliability of the operator. Dial. PZWQGS are direct reading; and respond ii int ,3 but such dial indicators as have heretofore been in have a been much more hul rv and cumbersome to hani'lle. under win renditions, than the older type of gauges.

"he olsieci; 0t this ii'ivention is the provision oi a. dial. indicaiing gauge of very snail and convenient shape. further ohjukt is to provide an indicator of great simpliii-itv and eheapner-s o't mrmuiactnre; An-

jei't is the n'itroihirtion o't irm'n'oved means tor attaching the indicator to the tool or machine in cminechion with which ii; is required to use t indicator.

For the purpose ot describin structure enihodvii g the invent on. and ith a view e ohjec my invention. T i h nrovvied a drawing. in \Ylllil'l the import 11* features of the inven tion are i'leerl illustrated.

lo the d aw I v in. 1 is a perspective view oi? a structure meihod vino the invention i ie'. F) is a eorresponding side view of the device on a larger seal the front halt heing reinoveih V 1 a sectional. top view oi the inmembers of the casing: to arether.

Fig. 4 is a similar View showing the nati'iral size ofthe device,

Fig. e shows on a large scaleyparts of the device, and portions of this view are shown insection for the sake of clearness.

The structure of invention may be divided into three main portions. a dail indicator 1 a. lever mechanism 2, and an at tac-hinent device i The indicator and thelevermechanism are enclosed W thin a casing conugrising' a. backing l and a cover 5. These two parts areeacl'r made from thin sheet metal of substantially the sizeand shape indicated in Fig. 1. The member 4 comprises a fiat'circula-r portion. 43 gird a channel shaped extens on l and it is noticed that the said fiat portion lS-IIMNlG with a depression of a depth corresponding with the depth. (it-the said channel. The outer end. of the channel is perforated to receive a pivot 6 on which a lever 'Z'is rigidly secured. The renter oi? the circular portion 4- is perforated to receive a staff on whirl), a. pinion 9 is firmly held. The inner end oi? the lever 7 terminates in a l heada the periphery of which is providedwith gear teeth 7 in. mesh with the said pinion 9. A resilient member 10 tr ons to mountain the lever in its normal. retracted -oos1tion. as indicated in The other member 5. of the casing carries the SZUZ'EQQCQDtOlll as the member 4:. but the eireula port on or this piece is made with a concentric depression aside from which illflWllOl member is entirely flat. The depression 5 aiiords Working; space for a hairspring ll the inner end oi"? which is fastened to the stat? while its outer end is suitably cl amped on the ineinber 5. An annular cupshaped ring; 12 is seated on the outer surface oi said member. and the pel 'toration of this a size o fit the p oieetine cup 5" loosely in order that the ring may be rotated on the cup. A. suitable spring ring 13 is placed within the cup-ring l2 whereupon plurality of screws 14- are provided and reused to clamp the said ring and the two dial I5 isneXt placed Within the cup-ring, whereupon a bezel 16 and a crystal 17 are added, and the parts are final -v pressed together end held eornbi annular cover 18..

For the sake of streugtheninp the structure it is well to clamp the outer extremities of the casing together, as by a screw 19, and for the purpose of accommodating this screw, the lever 7 is provided with a perforation 7 large enough to afford space for the free operation of the lever. The outer end ofthislever is provided with screwthreads 7 on which a contacting head 20 isiadjustably fitted and locked in position by a threaded nut 21. A pressure on this contacting headresults in a movement of the lever against the tension of the spring 10, and this movement transmits turning movement to the pinion 9 and the staff 8. On the outer end of the staff is rigidly mounted a pointer 22 which, turning with the staff, registers the amount of movement of the contacting head on the dial 155.

The spring 1.0 is suitably fastened on the casing member 4:, near the circular head 48,

' and it'extends to a point very close. to the pivot 6. It is important to note this relation because of the resultant evenness 0f the pressure exertedby the spring on the lever at this point. The outer end of the lever is preferably bent at substantially and the gauge should be applied substantially at this angle, as indicated by the broken line 23. There is a distinct advantage in operating the gauge at such angle, as it affords more room for the application of the gauge to the work to be gauged.

In the depression of the casing member 4: is provided a circular perforation 4 through which a stud 24 is projected from within the casing, and this stud is made with a head 24 slightly larger than the said perforation in order that the stud may not be drawn entirely through the perforation. An annular groove 24 is made in the stud directly outside the casing, and a spring-ring 25 is snapped into position in. this groove for the purpose of maintaining the stud proj ected. 'A notch 24 is cut into the stud. from one side, directly outside said groove, and a screw 26 extends from the end of the stud into this notch. The notch and set-screw are provided for the purpose of attaching the gauge to a desired support. Now it is noticed that the outer face 25 of the springring projects slightly beyond the inner surface 24 of the notch, as a consequence of which f relation the gauge may be turned to any desired an le, relative to its support and that it then may be clamped firmly in position by the said screw. the spring-ring being pressed'firinly against the outer surface of the casing. I

The movement of the pointer 22 is adusted relative to the movement of the contacting head 20 by adjusting the latter 10ngitudinally on the screw-threads 7 whereby the gauge'in the first instance is set to ,regis ter correctly the values given on the graduserver at first glance.

ated dial. The lever 7 is by the spring 10 brought to a solid stop against the wall of the casing channel 4e, and as this leveris directly connected to turn the pointer 22, it follows that the latter also is brought to a stop at a certain place. After the dial and crystal have been mounted in place, it is only necessary to turn these parts, which are yieldingly clamped in place by the springring 13, until the ero of the dialregisters with the pointer. Often the indicator is mounted on a support and set to register a certain height by applying it to avernier height-gauge. and in clamping the indicator in set position it is found difficult to bring the pointer into registration with the zero of the dial, and much time and effort is saved in adjusting the dial to the pointer rather than the pointer to the dial.

There are other important features in this structure which may not appear to the ob- One such feature is the extreme compactness of the device. which is no larger thanthe structure exhibited in Figs. 1 and i; another feature is its great simplicity. 'There is only the one operating lever 7 and yet each graduation on the dial represents one one-thousand part of an inch. In order to attain this pronounced gear ratio with only one set of gears it follows that the pinion 9 must be of extremely fine pitch and that it can onlycontain very few teeth, eight teeth being the maximum which I have found it commercially possible to employ. Now itis well lrnown that a pinion of eight teeth or less does not operate very smoothly when driven by a segment of relatively so great radius as to approach the.

shape of a rack. But upon examination it is noticed that this pinion really is not driven at all, when the. contacting lever is moved forward against the tension of the spring 10, because the spring 11 is so hung and wound as to urge the pinion to move. in the same direction. As a consequence it is found that the pinion is urged to follow the advance of the segn'ient by the slight pressure of the delicate hair spring ll and that the resulting movement is smooth and quiet. For a long time it was my belief that the hair spring must be mounted and wound to oppose the movement of the pinion, in orde to prevent blachlash between the parts, but I found the resulting movement jerky. gritty and noisy. and l despaired of prodncing a commercially successful indicator of such small compass and cost. Reversing the hair spring. as just explained has, how ever, completely solved this problem. It

maybe suggested that the return of the ment wherefore no unevenness is felt by the operator. iilso that the indicator is set on the advance stroke, when smoothness and evenness is requisite; the return stroke is idle.

I claim:

1. In a dial indicator, a casing com 'n'ising a circular portion from which extends a channeled arm, a pinion mounted to turn in the center of said Circular portion, a lever pivoted at the extremity oi said arm and terminating in a segmental head in mesh with said pinion, and a contacting head adjustably fixed on the outer end of said lever.

2. in a dial indicator, a hollow casing comprising two sheet metal members having each a circular portion and a projecting arm, a dial mechanism mounted to turn on one of said members, a staff centrally located within said circular portion and carrying a pointer ilOi registration with said dial mechanism, and a work contacting lever pivoted at the outer end of said arm and connected to rotate said pointer.

3. In a dial indicator, a hollow circular casing having a channeled extension, an adjustable dial mechanism concentric on said casing, a concentric pointer, work contacting means including a lever pivoted in said extension and having means extending into the casing for rotating said pointer, and ad justable attaching means on the casing opposite said dial mechanism.

4. In a dial indicator, a hollow casing comprising a circular portion and an extending arm, a dial mechanism concentric on one side of said casing, a pointer, a. work contacting lever pivoted at the extremity of said arm and extending into the center of the casing for moving said pointer, a projecting stud rotatable on the opposite side of the casing for attaching and adjusting the indicator on a support, and means for clamping the indicator in adjusted position.

5. In a dial indicator, a hollow casing having a circular portion, an attachable stud rotatablv seate l in said circular portion, said stud having a rectangular slot in the side, a spring-ring engaging a groove in said stud and having its face beyond the end of said slot, and a thumbscrew extending into said slot for the purpose oi. clamping the indicator in place.

6. In a dial indicator, a hollow two part casing having a circular portion from which extends a channeled arm, one side of said circular portion having a concei'itric depression, a cup-shaped member rotatable on the casing around said depression, a springring seatable in said member, a plurality of screws extending through the parts of the casing for clamping said parts together, said screws also operating noon the said spring-ring to put friction on said cupshaped member, and a dial mechanism attachable to said cup member.

7. A dial indicator comprising, a circular casing provided with an extending arm, a concentrically pivoted indicating member, an oscillatory work contacting lever pivoted at the outer end of said arm and connected to rotate said indicating member, a fiat spring having its inner end fastened at the inner end of said arm and so positioned that its outer end bears on said lever in. close proximity to the lever pivot in order to obtain uniform pressure on the lever, and a fine hair spring so placed and wound within the casing as to urge said indicating member forward against the tension of the flat lever spring.

8. In a dial indicator, a casing comprising a circular portion and a channeled arm extending therefrom, an indicating member pivoted in said circular portion, a worl: contacting member pivoted at the outer end of said arm and fitted to rotate said indicating member, a relatively strong spring operating upon said contacting member to oppose its movement, and a relatively light spring operating to urgeforward rotation of the said indicating member.

9. In a dial indicator, a two piece sheet metal casing, each half portion of the easing comprising a circular part provided with an extending arm, an indicating member centrally pivoted in said circular portions, a lever pivoted at the outer extremity of said arm, said lever having a projecting contacting head and provided with an in ward extension engaging said iinlicating member for simultaneous movement, means yieldingly maintaining said. lever rest, and means urging the indicating member forward.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

Ali-Tl'llllt E. ll. BABE/1'. 

